Means to impart suppleness to monofilament thread



Oct. 13, 1964 N. M. WEISS 3,152,351

MEANS T0 IMPART SUPPLENESS T0 MONOF'ILAMENT THREAD Filed March 11 1965 INVENTOR.

M4 THAN M WE/55 United States Patent 3,152,351 7 MEANS T0 IMPART SUPPLENESS TO MONOFILAMENT THREAD Nathan M. Veiss, Alhambra, Calif., assignor, by direct and mesne assignments, to Calthread, Inc., Los Angeles,

Calif., a corporation of California Filed Mar. 11, 1963, Ser. No. 264,101 Claims. (Cl. 155G6) This invention relates to means to impart suppleness to monofilament thread, especially nylon thread.

Monofilarnent nylon thread, used for machine stitching of upholstered items and items made of similar thick types of fabrics, presents many difiiculties that are not present in multifilament thread. Such thread is ordinarily wound on spools or bobbins from which the thread is drawn off the end and then guided through eyes or apertures to a sewing machine. Such spools usually are not mounted to turn but rather are loosely held, even if supported on a spindle. Turning of the spool is of a casual nature.

Monofilament thread, fed from a spool in this manner, forms curlicues or spirals, as the same is unwound from the spool, this manner of feed causing the thread to crimp or kink, frequently snarling and knotting the thread and often causing breakage of needles and other damage. Also, thread tension cannot be properly controlled since crimping does not occur uniformly but varies widely, especially as the size of the convolutions of thread on the spool reduces, as the spool is being depleted.

The primary reason that monofilament thread presents these difliculties is that the same does not have the flexibility nor limpness of multifilament, twisted thread. Also, monofilament thread cannot untwist, as do multifilament threads, and feed off the'spool'as limber and supple as do multifilament threads.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide novel and improved means to obviate the above faults in the feeding of monofilament nylon thread to sewing machines by rendering the same so supple that crimping or snarling is eliminated, the thread, thereby, passing to and through a sewing machine in an efiicient manner comparable to multifilament thread.

Another object of the invention is to provide for feeding monofilament thread with smooth-feeding and coiling properties during rapid passage to and through a sewing machine from a spool.

The following specification merely discloses one embodiment of the present invention and the same is given by way of example only.

In the drawing, like reference characters designate similar parts in the several views.

FIG. 1 is a top plan view, partly broken, of means for holding a spool of monofilament thread for feed thereof from the spool, the same illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view thereof, the lower portion being shown in elevation.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary side view of a spool of monofilament thread as wound according to the invention.

FIG. 4 is a still further enlarged cross-sectional view of the spool as in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of thread-lubricating means shown in FIG. 2.

The drawing shows a spool of monofilament thread, the thread 11 being wound on a core 12 and retained between spool ends or flanges 13. It is common practice to tight-wind multifilament thread, a practice that has been carried over to the transfer of monofilament threads from a bulk spool or bobbin to the spool 19. Tightly wound monofilament thread is not only susceptible to Patented Oct. 13, 1964 kinking, as above explained, but the same also becomes compressed or indented due to mutual compression of the convolutions.

The monofilament thread 11, as the same is transferred from a bulk spool, is coated with a non-staining oily material which comprises a thread-softening and -lubrieating solution, as hereinafter described. This coating is shown at 14. This lubricant and softener may be applied to the thread by passing the latter through a porous mass saturated with said solution to pick up a thin coating that constitutes both a lubricant and threadsoftener. The amount of solution that coats monofilament thread in the size range between No. 9 and No. 14 thread (such sizes representing thread diameter in thousandths of an inch), has been found to increase the weight of the thread by about two and one-half percent.

The desired solution comprises:

Percent Petroleum mineral oil Approximately Silicone SF-97 (100) Approximately 10 Methyl alcohol Approximately 5 The mineral oil constitutes the carrier of the solution and is non-staining.

The silicone ingredient is a fluid marketed by General Electric Co. under the trade name SF-97(l00). It is necessary only that this lubricating ingredient have a viscosity suitable for homogenization or blending with the mineral oil carrier. SF97(100) silicone is noted as of No. 20 viscosity. The silicone fiuid may be reduced in its proportion in the formula, and may be omitted in cases where the mineral oil provides desired lubricating.

The methyl alcohol is the nylon-softening agent and is preferred because of its low volatility.

Another feature is to wind the coated monofilament thread on the spool 1b in an open wind that minimizes contact among the thread convolutions, as shown best in FIGS. 3 and 4, thereby insuring that the coated convolutions of thread will have minimum contact and the coating 14 be retained with little impairment. FIG. 2 shows a spool 10 with the thread thereof coated, as in FIG. 4, and wound on the spool, as in FIG. 3.

The present thread-feeding means is shown as a container 15 in which the spool 10 is fixedly housed, and means 16 through which the thread 11 is drawn as the same is removed from the spool on its way to a sewing machine.

The container 15 houses the spool 10 which is affixed to the container bottom and is spaced from the container wall 17. A removable cover 18 closes the container. It is through the cover that the thread 11 is fed.

The means 16 is carried by said cover 18 and is here shown as a porous mass of material 19 that is preferably expanded polyethylene, a sponge-like material in the pores of which the above-described solution is retained by capillary attraction. Other compressible porous synthetic sponge material may be used, as well as felted (fibrous) material, providing the same will retain porosity, be compressible, and resist setting or compacting. Any suitable means may be used to hold the mass of material 19 across a hole 20 in the cover 18. In this case, a retainer cup 21 is shown for this purpose.

It will be evident that the thread 11 on the spool 10 may be passed through the means 16 on its way to a sewing machine and that the same will be subjected to lubricating contact with the solution-saturated sponge 19. This additional coating imparts additional suppleness to the thread. Thus, as the thread unravels from the spool, the spiral curlicues, as exemplified at 22, become straightened and the thread proceeds toward the sewing machine much limper or supple than it originally was, and with little or no tendency to crimp or kink.

. 3 While I have illustrated and described what I now contemplate to be the best mode of carrying out my invention with respect to the apparatus, the same is, of course, subject to modification without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. Therefore, I do not wish to restrict myself to the particular form of construction illustrated and described, but desire to avail myself of all equivalents or modifications of method and apparatus that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Means for feeding monofilament nylon thread from a spool on which the thread is open-wound, said means comprising (a) a container in which the spool of thread is fixedly housed, (b) a cover for said container having a hole therein,

and (c) means to lubricate and soften the thread as the same is drawn through said hole during feed thereof, said means comprising a porous mass disposed across said hole in the capillaries of which is contained a (a) a container to fixedly house said spool,

(b) a top cover for said container, provided with a hole, and

() means carried by said cover to both lubricate and impart suppleness to said thread as the same is drawn from the spool through said hole, said means comprising a polyethylene sponge saturated with a solution comprising Percent Petroleum mineral oil Approximately 85 Silicon S-F97(100) No. 20

viscosity "Approximately Methyl alcohol Approximately 5 3. In combination, a unit comprising: (a) a spool of monofilament nylon thread,

(b) a holder for said spool including a base to which one end of the spool is affixed,

(c) a porous and spongy mass of thread-lubricating material spaced from the other end of the spool and thiough which the thread on the spool is drawn as the same is unwound from the spool, and

(d) means supporting the mass of material from the holder to hold the same in fixed relation to the spool.

4. In combination, a unit comprising:

(a) a spool of monofilament nylon thread,

(b) a holder for said spool including a base to which one end of the spool is afiixed,

(c) a porous and spongy mass of thread-lubricating material spaced from the other end of the spool and through which the thread on the spool is drawn as the same is unwound from the spool, and

(d) an enclosure extending around the spool between said base and the mass of material.

5. Means for feeding and lubricating thread from a spool, said means comprising:

(a) a container in which a spool of thread is adapted to be housed,

(b) a cover for said container having a hole therein adapted to allow thread to be dispensed from the spool through the hole, and

(c) means adapted to lubricate and soften the thread as the same is drawn through said hole during feed thereof, said means comprising a porous mass disposed across said hole, said porous mass having capillary passages therein containing thread-lubricating solution.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 810,292 Meaker Jan. 16, 1906 1,335,667 Doering Mar. 30, 1920 1,972,824 Danielson Sept. 4, 1934 2,434,861 Pachner Jan. 20, 1948 2,592,632 Williamson Apr. 15, 1952 2,668,673 Clotworthy Feb. 9, 1954 2,793,819 Hayden May 28, 1957 2,846,705 Marz Aug. 12, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 779,652 France Jan. 19, 1935 66,099 Norway Apr. 12, 1943 

5. MEANS FOR FEEDING AND LUBRICATING THREAD FROM A SPOOL, SAID MEANS COMPRISING: (A) A CONTAINER IN WHICH A SPOOL OF THREAD IS ADAPTED TO BE HOUSED, (B) A COVER FOR SAID CONTAINER HAVING A HOLE THEREIN ADAPTED TO ALLOW THREAD TO BE DISPENSED FROM THE SPOOL THROUGH THE HOLE, AND (C) MEANS ADAPTED TO LUBRICATE AND SOFTEN THE THREAD AS THE SAME IS DRAWN THROUGH SAID HOLE DURING FEED THEREOF, SAID MEANS COMPRISING A POROUS MASS DISPOSED ACROSS SAID HOLE, SAID POROUS MASS HAVING CAPILLARY PASSAGES THEREIN CONTAINING THREAD-LUBRICATING SOLUTION. 